This Potato Chip Chicken Tenders Recipe is an easy weekday meal that even picky eaters like. Golden brown chicken fingers are coated with crushed potato chips and oven baked to crispy perfection. Your whole family will love this recipe!
Although potato chips aren’t the healthiest ingredient, it makes me happy that you can readily find potato chips made without preservatives or artificial ingredients.
Natural and organic potato chips seem to taste best on the day you open the bag, and they tend to have a shorter shelf life. I often find that we end up with a partial bag of broken chips in the pantry.
Potato Chip Chicken is the perfect way to use those chips, and you can also make this recipe using crushed tortilla chips or corn chips (see variations below). It’s a simple dinner that both the adults and kids will like.
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We love easy, family friendly dinner recipes like Mexican Carnitas in the Crock Pot, Easy Oven Baked Meatballs, and (for those nights when I just really, really don’t feel like cooking) our collection of 12 Desperation Dinners.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to make: The preparation is so simple, and your kids can help smash the potato chips while you’re cutting the chicken.
Family-friendly: People of all ages love this recipe! It’s a perfect easy family dinner.
Delicious: You will LOVE how the golden brown, crispy potato chip coating keeps the chicken juicy and flavorful.
Versatile: You can use this technique to vary the coatings. See our variations below for chicken tenders crusted with panko crumbs, cheez-it crackers and barbecue potato chips!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these easy homemade chicken tenders:
1 pound thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets, cut in 2-inch strips – Sometimes you can buy chicken pre-cut in strips, which is super convenient. Otherwise, just trim and cut regular chicken breasts in two-inch pieces.
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk – whole milk or 2 percent milk works best.
1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips – Use plain chips, or your favorite flavor. (Check out our variations below for other options!)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Equipment
You won’t need any fancy equipment to make this simple potato chip chicken tenders recipe:
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Shallow Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Zip lock bag
Step by Step Directions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Trim the fat off the chicken cutlets, and cut in long, 1-inch slices. Cut the slices in nugget sized pieces or strips.
Beat the egg, milk and pepper together in a shallow bowl.
Put potato chips in a large zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.
Note: If you’re using leftover potato chips, simply fold over the top of the potato chip bag and crush the chips with a rolling pin.
You can crush the chips as finely our roughly as you like. We leave some larger pieces, but it’s totally up to you.
Dip the chicken cutlets in the egg mixture and drop them one at a time in the potato chip bag or zip-lock bag. Zip or fold the top over, give the bag a quick shake, and arrange the coated chicken on the greased baking sheet.
After you’ve coated and arranged all the chicken pieces, take any of the leftover chips from the bag and sprinkle them over the top of the chicken pieces, pressing lightly so they stick.
Bake the chicken for 10 minutes, turn over and cook for 10 minutes more or until golden brown and cooked through.
Cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.
What to Serve with Potato Chip Chicken Strips
These potato chip crusted chicken tenders are especially good with a dipping sauce.
For the batch in this post, we served the nuggets with 1/2 cup of Thai Kitchen Sweet Red Chili Sauce.
We also love Honey Mustard Sauce. I make it by whisking together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard and 1 tablespoon honey. You can change up those quantities depending on your family’s preferences.
Ranch Dressing or Ranch Dip is another family favorite!
Storing and Reheating
Leftover chicken tenders can be stored, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
To reheat, arrange on a greased baking sheet and cook in a 375 degree F oven until hot, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Recipe Variations
This easy recipe is so versatile, and you can experiment with all different kinds of coatings.
BBQ Chip Chicken – Substitute barbecue potato chips for the regular chips. You can experiment with other flavors, too!
Tortilla Chip Chicken – Crush corn chips like Doritos, Fritos or spicy Takis to coat the chicken.
Cheez It Crusted Chicken Tenders – Use crushed cheese crackers like Cheez Its on the chicken strips.
Panko Chicken Tenders – Substitute panko crumbs for the crispy coating on the chicken.
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Here’s the printable recipe:
Baked Potato Chip Chicken
Equipment
- 1 shallow dish
- 1 zip-lock bag
Ingredients
- 1 pound thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets, cut in 2-inch strips
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips (about 8 ounces whole chips)
Instructions
- Grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Beat the egg, milk and black pepper together in a shallow bowl.
- Put potato chips in a large zip lock bag and crush in small pieces with a rolling pin.
- Dip the chicken cutlets in the egg mixture and drop them one at a time in the bag, shaking gently to coat with the chips.
- Arrange the coated chicken pieces on the greased baking sheet. Take any leftover chips from the bag and sprinkle them over the top of the chicken pieces, pressing lightly so they stick.
- Bake the chicken for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a spatula to flip each of the tenders over.
- Return to the oven and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Cool for 5 minutes and serve with dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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About Eliza Cross
Eliza Cross is the author of 17 books, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon. She shares ideas to simplify cooking, gardening, time and money. She is also the owner of Cross Media, Inc. and founder of the BENSA Bacon Lovers Society.
Sounds so yummy and easy! I will definitely try this!
I saw a chef use potato chips to bread chicken on an episode of Chopped once. Looks delicious!
Just stopping by to say hello and wish you a Happy New Year filled with many blessings. I like the potato chip crusted chicken idea!
I conceived the idea of using potato chips as breading and decided to check it out on the internet. Your recipe was the first I looked at and decided to use it since it was the way I would have normally done it. I would not have thought of the paprika, though I use it quite often on chicken. I subscribed to your email and hope to acquire more simple recipes.
My husband came up with this same idea about 35 years ago. Except, he used barbecue potato chips. The kids always loved it, and now they make it for their kids.
This sounds yummy! Extra crispy outside and tender inside. Bonus that the kids will enjoy helping make them.
These are the best chicken tenders I’ve ever made! I love the salty flavor that using potato chips for the coating gives these.
Oh yum! Love the crispy crust with those crushed potato chips. I bet my whole family will enjoy them.
This recipe is super innovative! Love the crunch from those potato chips!
Enjoyed this for dinner last night and they were a savory success! Quick, easy and perfectly crispy; definitely, a new favorite recipe!